Charles Bowman was sentenced Monday to 40 years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections for the murder of his wife, Kathleen Bowman.

Bowman was sentenced in Poplarville before 15th Circuit Court Judge Prentiss Harrell on two charges, second degree murder and tampering with physical evidence, said 15th District Attorney Hal Kittrell.

Bowman will serve 40 years followed by 10 years of post release supervision.

A second degree murder conviction carries 20 to 40 years. Bowman was given 40 years, with 30 years to serve. A tampering with evidence conviction carries up to 10 years, of which Bowman was given all 10 years to run consecutive to the second degree murder charge for a total of 40 years.

“We thought it was a very just sentence,” said Kittrell.

Bowman, now 63, was found guilty in October in the murder of his wife Kathleen, which occurred in June of 2018. After law enforcement officers became involved in her disappearance, he fled to Utah where he was captured two weeks later. She was 61 at the time of her death.

The family was in the courtroom Monday, said Kittrell and they were pleased with the sentence.

“I was very pleased to bring resolution to this to bring some peace to the family,” said Kittrell.

Kittrell said the case was difficult to bring to trial and it was logistically complicated.

“It just seemed like every time we turned around, there were always legal issues regarding introduction of evidence, probably more than any case I’ve seen in a while. It was like a legal exam,” he said.

Witnesses had to be flown out of Utah, but Kittrell said his office had great cooperation with both the Pearl River County Sheriff’s Department and Utah authorities.

According to previous coverage, in June of 2018 investigators conducted a welfare check at the Bowman home, located on Owl Hoot Road, after family members said they had not heard from her since Mother’s Day. Bowman claimed his wife was not home when deputies conducted a welfare check based on the family complaint. After getting a tip from a Gulf Coast law enforcement agency, investigators returned with a search warrant and found the burned remains of Kathleen Bowman. Charles Bowman fled to Utah before the search warrant was served, and was located there approximately two weeks later at a campsite. He was located and taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service and extradited back to Pearl River County.